[Federal Register: October 7, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 194)]
[Notices]
[Page 57924-57926]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07oc03-82]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement for an
Incidental Take Permit for the Western Riverside County Multiple
Species Habitat Conservation Plan, California
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability and receipt of application.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, this notice
advises the public of the availability of the Final Environmental
Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) on the
application by the County of Riverside, California Department of
Transportation, California Department of Parks and Recreation and 14
cities (Applicants) in western Riverside County to incidentally take 83
animal species, including 69 unlisted species should any of them become
listed, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act),
during the term of the proposed 75-year permit. The permit is needed to
authorize take of listed animal species (including harm, injury and
harassment) during urban and rural development in the approximately 1.2
million-acre (1,967 square-mile) Plan Area in western Riverside County,
California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is publishing
this notice to inform the public of the proposed action and to make
available for review the Final EIS/EIR, which includes responses to
public comments received on the Draft EIS/EIR. The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) also is publishing a similar notice for this
Final EIS/EIR.
DATES: A Record of Decision will occur no sooner than 30 days after the
publication date of the EPA notice. Comments on the Final EIS/EIR must
be received by the close of the comment period as indicated in the EPA
notice.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Mr. James Bartel, Field
Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife
Office, 6010 Hidden Valley Road, Carlsbad, California 92009; facsimile
(760) 431-9624.
Copies of the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat
Conservation Plan (MSHCP), Implementation Agreement, and Final EIS/EIR
are available for review at the Riverside County Integrated Plan
website (http://www.rcip.org) or at the following locations in
California:
1. Carlsbad--U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife
Office, 6010 Hidden Valley Road
2. Riverside--Riverside County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon
Street, 7th Floor; University of California, Riverside, Tomas Rivera
Library, 900 University Avenue; and Riverside Public Library, 3581
Mission Inn Avenue
3. Murrieta--Murrieta Public Library, 39589 Los Alamos Road
4. Hemet--Riverside County Library, Hemet Branch, 25757 Fairview Avenue
5. Perris--Riverside County Library, Perris Branch, 163 E. San Jacinto.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Karen Goebel, Assistant Field
Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES),
telephone number (760) 431-9440.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 57925]]
Background
The Applicants seek an incidental take permit and assurances for 83
animal species (9 endangered, 5 threatened, and 69 unlisted), and
assurances for 63 plant species (8 endangered, 3 threatened, and 52
unlisted). The animal species include 3 crustacean species (1
endangered, 1 threatened and 1 unlisted); 2 insect species (both
endangered); 2 fish species (1 threatened and 1 unlisted); 5 amphibian
species (2 endangered, 1 threatened, 2 unlisted); 12 reptile species
(all unlisted); 45 bird species (2 endangered, 2 threatened, and 41
unlisted); and 14 mammal species (2 endangered and 12 unlisted).
Collectively the 146 listed and unlisted species are referred to as
Covered Species by the MSHCP. Twenty-eight of the Covered Species are
identified as Covered Species for which adequate conservation has not
been assured. These species would not be provided with incidental take
under the permit until adequate conservation has been assured.
A permit is needed because section 9 of the Act and Federal
regulations prohibit the ``take'' of animal species listed as
endangered or threatened. Take of listed animal species is defined
under the Act to include kill, harm, or harass. Harm includes
significant habitat modification or degradation that actually kills or
injures listed animals by significantly impairing essential behavioral
patterns, including breeding, feeding, and sheltering [50 CFR 17.3(c)].
Under limited circumstances, the Service may issue permits to authorize
incidental take; i.e. take that is incidental to, and not the purpose
of, otherwise lawful activity. Although take of plant species is not
prohibited under the Act, and therefore cannot be authorized under an
incidental take permit, plant species are proposed to be included on
the permit in recognition of the conservation benefits provided to them
under the MSHCP. Assurances of no additional mitigation requirements
provided under the No Surprises Rule at 50 CFR 17.3, 17.22(b)(5), and
17.32(b)(5) would extend to all species named on the permit.
Regulations governing incidental take permits for threatened and
endangered species are found in 50 CFR 17.32 and 17.22.
The MSHCP is intended to protect viable populations of native plant
and animal species and their habitats in perpetuity through the
creation of a preserve system, while accommodating continued economic
development and quality of life for residents of western Riverside
County. In the year 2020, the Southern California Association of
Governments estimates that Riverside County will be home to
approximately 2.8 million people, who will occupy approximately 918,000
dwelling units. This represents a doubling of the County's present
population and housing stock. Another study by the California
Department of Finance estimates that the County will continue to grow
to 3.5 million people by 2030 and 4.5 million people by 2040. These
residents will be located within 24 incorporated cities, as well as
within unincorporated areas.
The MSHCP is one part of Riverside County's Integrated Project, the
purpose of which is to integrate and provide for future land use,
transportation, and conservation needs in Riverside County. The MSHCP
Plan Area encompasses 1.2 million acres in western Riverside County and
includes the following 14 incorporated cities: Banning, Beaumont,
Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Corona, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley,
Murrieta, Norco, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto, and Temecula. The
MSHCP is one of two large, multiple-jurisdictional habitat planning
efforts in Riverside County, both of which are ``subregional'' plans
under the State of California's Natural Community Conservation Planning
Act of 1991.
In the MSHCP, the Applicants have proposed the conversion of
approximately 800,000 acres from open space to non-open space uses
during the 75-year permit, primarily by activities already planned for
by the cities and County. These activities include residential,
commercial, and industrial development; construction and maintenance of
transportation facilities; construction and maintenance of flood
control facilities, public utilities, and parks and trails;
agricultural conversion of vegetation communities; management of
reserves; and other anticipated projects.
Proposed covered activities which require discretionary action by a
permittee, subject to consistency with MSHCP policies, include: two
internal regional transportation facilities, maintenance of and safety
improvements on existing roads, circulation element roads, single
family homes on existing legal parcels, compatible uses in the reserve,
and up to 10,000 new acres of agricultural activity within the Criteria
Area (an area to be evaluated for inclusion in the reserve in
accordance with the criteria guidelines). The MSHCP makes a provision
for the inclusion of special districts and other non-permittee entities
in the permit.
As described in Volumes I and II of the Public Review Draft MSHCP
(November 2002) and the Draft EIS/EIR, the applicants propose to create
a preserve system that protects and manages 153,000 acres of habitat
for the Covered Species in addition to the identified existing 347,000
acres of Covered Species habitat in the Plan Area with conservation
value in public or quasi-public ownership. The existing 347,000 acres
would be monitored and managed in coordination with the 153,000 acres
to achieve a conservation area of 500,000 acres. The County and cities
are in the process of adopting a mitigation fee to acquire 97,000 acres
as mitigation for private development in the Plan Area. The funding
plan assumes that of the 97,000 acres, 41,000 acres would be conserved
through the land use approval process. An additional 6,000 acres would
be conserved as mitigation for State (California Department of
Transportation and California Department of Recreation) projects. It is
anticipated that the Service and the California Department of Fish and
Game would provide an additional 50,000 acres to complement the 103,000
acres of mitigation identified in the MSHCP. The 153,000 acres of
conservation area lie within a larger Criteria Area. The Criteria Area
is divided into a grid consisting of 160-acre cells. Each cell or cell
group has associated criteria that describe the conservation expected
in that cell.
The MSHCP includes measures to avoid and minimize incidental take
of the Covered Species, emphasizing project design modifications to
protect both habitats and species' individuals. A monitoring and
reporting plan would gauge the Plan's success based on achievement of
biological species objectives and reserve design criteria, and would
ensure that conservation keeps pace with open space conversion. The
MSHCP also includes adaptive management which allows for changes in the
conservation program if the biological species objectives are not met,
or new information becomes available to improve the efficacy of the
MSHCP's conservation strategy.
The MSHCP would be implemented by the permittees and the Regional
Conservation Authority (RCA), a Joint Powers Authority. The RCA would
be formed prior to our Record of Decision and permit decision. After
the RCA is formed, it would apply to the Service for an incidental take
permit to implement the MSHCP. We do not intend to notice the RCA's
incidental take permit application in the Federal Register because the
role of the RCA
[[Page 57926]]
was identified in the Draft MSHCP that was made available for public
review with the Federal Register Notice of the incidental take permit
applications from the other Applicants (67 FR 69236) and the RCA permit
application would contain no new substantive information for the public
to comment upon.
On November 15, 2002, the Service published a notice in the Federal
Register (67 69236) announcing receipt of an application for an
incidental take permit from Riverside County, the 14 cities and the
other Applicants, and the availability of a Draft EIS/EIR for the
application. The Draft EIS/EIR analyzed the potential environmental
impacts that may result from the Federal action of authorizing
incidental take anticipated to occur with implementation of the MSHCP,
and identified various alternatives. We received a total of 110 comment
letters on the Draft EIS/EIR. A response to each comment received in
these letters has been included in Final EIS/EIR.
The Draft EIS/EIR considered four alternatives in addition to the
preferred alternative/proposed project described above: (1) A listed,
proposed and strong candidate species alternative; (2) a listed and
proposed species alternative; (3) an existing reserves alternative; and
(4) a no project alternative.
The listed, proposed and strong candidate species alternative
focuses on the conservation of 29 state and/or federally listed species
and seven unlisted species. This alternative would conserve
approximately 119,300 acres of ``new'' lands (i.e., acreage above and
beyond what is already conserved through public or quasi-public land
ownership and management).
The listed and proposed species alternative focuses on the
conservation of 29 state and/or federally listed or proposed species.
The proposed new conservation under this alternative is approximately
93,800 acres.
The existing reserves alternative would provide coverage for six
State and/or federally listed or candidate species and some unlisted
species depending on management regimes in the existing reserves. It
would not provide any new conservation of land.
The analysis provided in the Final EIS/EIR is intended to
accomplish the following: inform the public of the proposed action;
address public comments received on the Draft EIS/EIR; disclose the
direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of the proposed
action; and indicate any irreversible commitment of resources that
would result from implementation of the proposed action. This notice is
provided pursuant to section 10 of the Act and National Environmental
Policy Act regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Robert D. Williams,
Deputy Manager, Region 1, California/Nevada Operations Office,
Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 03-25313 Filed 10-6-03; 8:45 am]
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